Ballet’s very grande dames are back!

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at Buxton Opera House – Friday 7 & Saturday 8 October 

The iconic Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – affectionately known as The Trocks – are back in the UK. Their latest show was greeted by 5-star reviews and standing ovations when it opened at London’s Peacock Theatre earlier this month and they arrive in Buxton next week.

The Trocks are loved world-wide for their hilarious homages and sassy spoofs of classical ballet. Their impeccable comic timing is matched by their immaculate technique and daring physicality. Every show froths with tutus and testosterone, blush-pink ballet shoes, false eyelashes and prima ballerina attitude! The company’s 16 extraordinary dancers – who hail from China, Cuba, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the US – take on a kaleidoscope of roles, both male and female. Each dancer has their own performer alter egos including Olga Supphozova, Jacques D’Aniels, Holly Dey-Abroad, Minnie Van Driver, Timur Legupski and Ludmila Beaulemova.

The trailblazing company started life in 1974 as a downtown New York drag act in the wake of the Stonewall Riots. Since then, they have shared their signature style and message of equality and inclusion with audiences worldwide, providing a stage for dancers often under-represented in ballet, whether that be due to sexual orientation, gender identity, size, class, race or ethnicity. As company dancer Kevin Garcia says: “Every time the curtain opens, we represent progress for equality. We just do it dancing.”

The programme in Buxton opens with The Trocks’ signature work Le Lac des Cygnes (Swan Lake Act II) danced to Tchaikovsky’s iconic music for what is perhaps the world’s best-known ballet. Then comes a mystery pas de deux announced from the stage on the night. Next up is Vivaldi Suite, the company’s glorious celebration of one of the 20^th century’s most influential choreographers, George Balanchine. Finally comes Raymonda’s Wedding, the traditionally confusing divertissements from the final act of ‘Raymonda’. A ballet in three acts and fifteen scenes, ‘Raymonda’ has baffled audiences since its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1898.  With choreography after Marius Petipa, The Trocks ignore all the plot intrigues and go straight for the happy ending!

This is The Trocks’ seventeenth visit to the UK and their sixth tour presented by Dance Consortium, an 18-strong group of large-scale venues in the UK and Ireland with a mission to tour a diverse range of international dance companies to a nationwide audience.